The resurfacing of all lanes on Colonial Drive between OBT and Shine Avenue is about to begin. Colonial Drive was last milled and resurfaced in 2003 and FDOT states that the pavement on this stretch of road has reached the end of its service life. The total distance of this project is approximately 1.6 miles.

Lane closures, during the construction, will occur only at nighttime.

A list of recommended improvements include:

  • Milling and resurfacing of all lanes on State Road 50, including all parking and turning lanes.
  • Eliminating on-street parking on both sides of Colonial Drive, from Westmoreland to Lake Dot circle.
  • Addition of on-street bike lane to the space where designated parking currently exists.
  • Sign upgrades and addition of pedestrian signal heads at all signals and intersections, totally 10 signalized intersectins and 16 un-signalized intersections.
  • The “hump” at SR 50 and Mills 50 will be overlaid to improve the roadway.
  • Curb ramps and bulb outs will be constructed to enhance pedestrian safety at some intersections.
  • A number of utility poles will be relocated to satisfy ADA requirements.

The dotted line on either side of the interstate is exempt from this current construction phase, as it is impacted by the work being done on the I-4 Ultimate project. All work on that stretch will be done through I-4 Ultimate.

Affected area of Colonial Drive

Affected area of Colonial Drive

The area to be affected by the I-4 Ultimate Exception Area shown above, is shown in greater detail, below.

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The estimated completion time for the I-4 Ultimate and Ultimate Colonial expansion is 2021.

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A construction launch date has yet to be released, but road signage and cones are beginning to appear along the planned construction corridor. Scroll down to watch the Public Meeting presentation from June, 2015.

We originally wrote about this construction back in February of 2015, HERE.

 

Brendan O'Connor

Editor in Chief of Bungalower.com

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  1. We property and business owners along this stretch requested the bike lanes. When first proposed, the bike lanes were only going to be from Parramore to Edgewater to provide a link between the bike lanes on those two roads. We all have off street parking already, so we suggested extending the bike lanes to OBT. We got Westmoreland. I had suggested protected bike lanes like the ones I had seen in Barcelona and DC, but the engineers said that would create drainage issues and prevent buses from pulling to the sidewalk for handicap access to enter and exit the buses at the bus stops. We don’t know what I-4 Ultimate is going to do with the bike lanes. Businesses in that section sometimes need on street parking for customers, and — once the Downtown Campus is open — who knows what kind of parking and access along Colonial will be needed in that area. It would be nice to have the bike lanes, but they’re adding speed merge lanes and Texas U Turn lanes all around the I-4 intersection in an effort to move cars through that area as quickly as possible. The I-4 bridge over Colonial is being raised by about 20 feet and lengthened by about 100 feet on each side of Colonial for a total of 200 feet wider for Colonial. I’m not seeing much that makes that area pedestrian or bike friendly, so I have little hope that Colonial will be the road that bicyclists use to access the rest of the city. Instead, they’ll probably be forced to use Amelia and Livingston to get from here to there.

  2. Scott Wasserstrom we have some plans to share about a larger east-west connection. Still working in that story, but your concern isn’t unwarranted!

  3. Drivers don’t obey bike lane laws in Orlando anyway. I’ve had way too many close calls with people drifting over into the bike lane and then act like I did something wrong.

  4. Question is whether it will eventually connect. #bikepathtonowhere is such a pervasive problem in Orlando, and I imagine they come about this way–“We’ll do this part now, and connect it whenever.”

  5. Bungalower the REAL “ultimate” for I-4 would narrow it down and make almost ALL of it for bikes – at grade level. : )

  6. Please please please City of Orlando redesign Corrine Drive and add real geniuinely safe sidewalks and bike lanes!

  7. Haha nobody could answer that question, but as that section will remain untouched until after i4 Ultimate, we’re assuming yes. #bikepathtonowhere